Thank you Helen, for throwing that lovely pun my way during our stretch!

Fifteen fresh folk frolicked and flew through Lewisham to Catford, where weeds were weeded, gravel was spread and brambles were bashed. A total of 5kms were covered, with a fun (?) relay thrown in, to push us out of our comfort zone and make us even stronger.

What a treat, a warm Monday evening! Those of us who kept it up throughout the cold winter nights told of storms, fallen trees and gusting winds, as new-comers looked on in awe and admiration...OK, that's pushing it a bit, but really, we've earned ourselves some fine weather! New-comers, we had a few this week. Welcome to Holly, Eva, Sarah, Lucy and Lindsay (who is new to our group runs, but came along to our epic mega-mission on Saturday). They all got stuck right in like pros.

Wheelie Warm

This fine weather brings new challenges, such as people sitting on the grass where we do our warm-up. Really, how cheeky. Once we had heard a bit about coach running and missions, congratulated Jacqueline on visiting her coach ten times (and a superb 27 good deeds) and given a round of applause to Judy for growing wings, with 100 good deeds, the space was clear, so we got a bit warmer, with some jogging, running, skipping and heel-flicking. We then introduced a variation on shin-tag, where you tag the person's shoulder, though I'm not sure we will be revisiting that one, as it seemed to cause confusion, dizziness and a bit of chasing, which isn't always a good idea when you have the kids of Lewisham tearing down the path on a wheelie-ing mountain bike.

Time to run.

Out towards Lewisham High Street and the rush hour world. Our outward run is always a good opportunity to get to know your fellow runners, as we run at a chatting pace, so you can catch up on the week's news. There was lots of talk about Volunteers' Week, with our massive dose of doing-good at City Hall and our own epic weekend of action in Lewisham. We were soon slowing down and turning in to George Street and the Calabash Centre. We were met by Jason, who showed us straight to the water fountain, yup, we were a bit hot and thirsty!

A group of four took on the front garden, weeding the paths, dead-heading Irises and spreading gravel over the surface to keep the area weed-free in future (and to make it look really rather neat). In the courtyard area, we found the garden had really sprung to life since our last visit, with a beautiful display of purples, pinks and lush greenery - Jason told us he now has a volunteer coming in to keep on top of the garden and to also encourage the centre-users to get involved too, our work here is done! It was lovely to see that our planting from last time still looked great, though the slugs and snails had totally demolished the marigolds, tasty.

Take A Seat

It seemed the best way to tackle to weeds between the tiles, was to sit down. This is just fine, perfect to dig away with whichever sharp tool you can find and chat about visiting an older person. We heard about Conroy's holiday and how he had had to run very early in the morning to avoid the heat, OK, Lewisham isn't *that hot then! Over behind the shed, a whole new weed zone was uncovered, so an intrepid team of explorers ventured in, fending off brambles and fierce goose-grass, slashing as they went. This drew some attention and pretty soon, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Time was ticking away though, so last-minute tugging and chopping was done, with monster weeds being stuffed into bags - it seems a compost bin is going to be introduced, so the waste will be broken down and reused.

Time to step back and admire the results, with our front garden workers coming through to take a look, before we all headed out to see what they had been up to.

A visit to this part of town wouldn't be complete without a run through Ladywell Fields, so off we went. Some runners know the score now, and eagerly headed left, taking a slightly longer loop, while the rest of us ran directly towards the cafe (no ice creams this evening though). Regrouping, we did some dynamic stretching, some drills to encourage good form (high knees, strong arm-drive, high hips), then found our partners from the earlier game of tag. On previous visits, we have done a little time trial, but tonight we were having some fun with a relay. One of each pair ran a loop (with ups and downs), tagged their partner and off they went, then a repeat, but in the opposite direction.

Wow! What strong running from everyone! Runners powered up the hill, flew down the other side and sprinted the flat to the change-over point. We saw great teamwork, as everyone cheered and encouraged, all while trying to catch their breath. Then a bit of breath-catching had to be done on our return run, always a little quieter than the outward leg! Time to stretch and hear about next week's group run, where we will return to the Honor Oak Adventure Playground, come and join us!